Biden Antitrust Crackdown Is Boon for Law Firm Competition Work

President Biden’s antitrust crackdown is a boon for competition practices, demonstrated by an upstart DC boutique growing to 37 lawyers from just five two years ago.

Rule Garza Howley, led by Charles “Rick” Rule, past co-chair of the antitrust group at Paul Weiss, last month abandoned its all-virtual operation and opened an office in downtown Washington because of the growing number of associates and counsel.

“The reason we grew as fast as we did is because of demand,” Rule, 69, said in an interview. “We expanded more than originally we thought,” as the firm needed to prove it could handle the work coming its way, he said.

Rule’s operation isn’t alone in snapping up expanding antitrust work. Firms including Wilkinson Stekloff and Weil Gotshal & Manges are racking up hours defending Microsoft Corp.'s $69 billion acquisition last year of Activision Blizzard Inc., after the Federal Trade Commission appealed a ruling that the deal could move forward.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Paul Weiss and Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider are defending Alphabet Inc.'s Google in a Justice Department action targeting its ad-technology business for alleged illegal monopolization.

Law firm demand for antitrust litigators has probably never been greater, said Justine Donahue, a legal recruiter at Macrae. “Many law firms are asking us for antitrust litigation talent, which is something we hadn’t seen much of prior to the last year or two,” she said.

Freshfields in February hired former FTC member Christine Wilson, the latest in a wave of Big Law antitrust hires. Wilson Sonsini a month earlier poached Maureen Ohlhausen, a former FTC acting chair, from Baker Botts.

“Top firms in Washington want top talent” from the FTC, said Amy Savage, the head of the government transitions group at recruiting firm Lateral Link. “That’s the bottom line.”

Ambitious Agenda

Biden antitrust enforcers have spearheaded an ambitious agenda compared with administrations going back decades. The FTC and Justice Department, who have brought high-profile cases against tech giants such as Amazon.com Inc., set a record in fiscal 2022 for the number of merger challenges.

The DOJ on May 3 backed Colorado’s effort to block the merger between supermarket titans Kroger Co. and Albertsons Cos. JetBlue Airways Corp. and Spirit Airlines, represented by firms Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Cooley LLP, A&O Shearman and Paul Weiss, in January appealed a ruling blocking the airlines’ combination.

Charles “Rick” Rule

Rule Garza Howley

Against this backdrop came Rule Garza, which started small in March 2022 but touted big credentials. Rule, the firm’s chair, led the Justice Department’s antitrust division under President Reagan and once worked closely with Jonathan Kanter, the DOJ’s current antitrust chief, while the two were at Paul Weiss and Cadwalader. Deborah Garza, the vice chair, was an acting assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush. Dan Howley, a former counsel on Rule’s team at Paul Weiss, is the firm’s managing partner.

The firm, which started with five partners, has added many of the 32 attorneys who have since joined from either Big Law firms or government. Rule declined to comment on the firm’s finances.

The practice has a large focus on deals work, with big clients including ExxonMobil and The Cigna Group. Along with a corporate team from Davis Polk & Wardwell, the firm helped Exxon close its $64 billion purchase of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. after the FTC declined to challenge the deal. “I’d like to say that we’re getting all the demand” for antitrust work, said Rule. But “a lot of firms are benefiting from increased demand.”

Rule said one of the benefits of running an antitrust shop right now is the attention the issue has gained among lawmakers and the public. “To some extent, the cases against Google and Amazon have stimulated” an interest in antitrust from young lawyers, he said. “What we tell people is that we’re still at the ground floor and you can actually make an imprint here.”

‘An Irony’

Rule, who also practiced at Covington, Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft and Fried Frank, left behind a Big Law firm’s infrastructure by striking out on his own. He said his firm has benefited from fewer client conflicts and more flexibility in billing arrangements, opening the door for more opportunities.

The veteran lawyer admitted “there is an irony” in the founding—and early success—of his firm.

Rule was a top antitrust enforcer in a Reagan administration that championed a narrowing of competition policy. That regime corresponded with a boom in merger activity and a dwindling demand for sophisticated antitrust legal advice, hurting business for firms with regulatory specialties. The boutique Bergson Borkland Margolis & Adler dissolved in 1986 as antitrust work plunged, according to a Washington Post report.

“A lot of people ended up blaming me,” Rule said.

Now, Rule’s firm is among a small set, including intellectual property and antitrust shop Axinn, finding success through largely specializing in competition law.

“Look, my view of antitrust is it’s not an ideological avocation,” Rule said. “It’s a professional vocation. What you think about policy is not all that relevant to a client. What a client wants to know is, What are my legal obligations?’.”